As the coals in the hot stove are just beginning to get stoked up, it’s time to rank the current Chicago White Sox, in order of importance for 2011 and beyond. It’s not intended to be a strict list of merely the best players, or best values, on the White Sox. Rather, it takes into account team depth, the free agent market, or answering the question of which player would hurt the most not being on the team? …

… 30. Eduardo Escobar, SS

One great AFL season does not make a prospect. But given that Escobar has lit up a fall season that earns more than its fair share of attention from major-league eyes, Escobar becomes an important trade chip this winter. Perhaps the inclusion of the shortstop in a Carlos Quentin-Colby Rasmus deal with St. Louis gets that trade done.

In 56 plate appearances (so, sample size alert), Sale held right-handers to a .120/.214/.240 batting line. He did it while throwing them six change-ups in 220 pitches (2.7%), which accounted for 3 balls, 2 called strikes and 1 swinging strike. It was a non-factor. as he went with a two-pitch approach: 66.8% four seamers, 26.4% sliders. And, to my surprise, looking at his Texas Leaguers chart, he wasn’t just back-dooring the slider everytime. It’s a pitch he trusts, and a pitch that works, against right-handers. …

I credit Baseball America and Matt Eddy being the first to make me aware of Mike Blanke, the team’s 13th-round pick from the Division II University of Tampa. Blanke hit .329/.400/.508 in the Pioneer League, where Eddy ranked him as the number seven prospect. He wrote, “…he would have gone much earlier had clubs had any inkling that he would show plus power, arm strength and receiving skills in his pro debut.” …

On Dayan Viciedo: “He has such great hands. He can sit back and drive the ball the other way.” However, he said Dayan gets opposite field happy and gets anxious. They are trying to get him to stay behind the ball more because he is so quick.

David Holmberg looks real good. He has great instincts for his age, but they will be slower with him this year because there are older guys they need to see at a higher level. He has big upside. The coaches don’t have to tell him twice what to do.

What he needs to improve: Sauer is a polished prospect. He already has fantastic control of a low 90’s sinking fastball, he keeps the ball on the ground, doesn’t give up home runs and strikes out a fair number of batters. He will need to continue working on his changeup, however, to help combat left-handed hitters, who hit .321 against him last year (vs. .271 AVG for right handers). …

Today, Baseball America released their top ten prospect rankings for the White Sox. This means all of the major prospect publications have released their White Sox rankings. Let’s take a look at the differences from each and try to figure out what it all means.

Marc Hulet ranks the Top 10 Sox prospects. Tyler Flowers is on top of the list:

Flowers should be ready to take over the full-time catching chores right around the time that veteran incumbent A.J. Pierzynski’s contract runs out after 2010. The right-handed catching prospect has impressive power (.246 ISO in double-A) and he hasn’t hit below .279 in any season since 2006. Flowers began the year in double-A in ‘09 and hit .302/.445/.548 in 248 at-bats, before moving up to triple-A where he hit .286/.364/.438 in 105 at-bats.

Kannapolis, the Sox Low-A affiliate, put up a chubby 5.12 ERA in 2007. In 2008, it dropped more than a full point to 4.08. And here in 2009, it dropped 80 more points to 3.24, 2nd best in the South Atlantic League by just .01. They were also 2nd in strikeouts, 2nd in WHIP, and led the league with 15 shutouts. Not surprisingly they finished the season at 82-57, best record in the 16-team league, despite being below the median in most offensive categories. And the pitching staff that achieved this was filled mostly with players drafted or signed since the 2008 June draft, not much more than a year ago. …

The Sox have put Edwards on the fast track following Tommy John surgery, getting the call to Winston-Salem despite being the third- or fourth-most deserving Kannapolis pitcher. His fastball is in the high-80s, so he has some work to do in terms of missing bats.